135 Reviews for the 2012 Edinburgh
Fringe Festival (In order from most enjoyable to least)

Welcome
to the 2012 version of my Fringe reviews.Since I tailored much of my schedule to that of my friend Tim’s, and my wife’s
requests, I will not be seeing as many plays this year.You can see my schedule here.You
can find out about me,
and my extended thoughts about reviewing
at the bottom
of this page.I think that the most
useful aspect for my readers is the rankings.I base the rankings on my enjoyment of the show, so they may not reflect
the quality of the script and/or acting.I prefer plays to comedy acts, but work in a little of the latter for
diversity.I have discovered that I have
a penchant for true stories.The
comments are usually only three sentences long because I have little time
between shows, and, after all, I am here for the shows.You can also see my 175 reviews for 2011 Fringe,200
reviews for 2010 Fringe, 177 reviews for 2009
Fringe, 153 reviews for 2008 Fringe, 162 reviews for 2006 Fringe, and 151 reviews for 2005 Fringe.I always enjoy chatting with both audience
members and dramatic artists.If you
wish to contact me, send e-mail to Sean
Davis.

You
will find an exceptional number of five and four star shows this year.The reason for this is that Tim is quite
knowledgeable about the theater scene in the UK, and made sure that his 50
plays were the best he could select from the offerings.

You
can change the sorting column of the table below by first clicking anywhere in
its header.Each succeeding click in the
header sorts the table by the column clicked.Succeeding clicks of a column will reverse the previous sort order.I have now added a Date column so that
returning viewers can sort by it to see my most recent reviews.

Rank

Title and
Review

Venue

Times

Date

1.

Educating Rita (*****)

A besotted English
Literature professor reluctantly takes on a hairdresser who wishes to change
her life through open university.The
play derives its power not from the expected blossoming of the student, but
instead from his and our fear that such change will replace her honest
insight with academic rote arguments.Both actors are superb as he think he sees a tragedy unfold, and she
learns of the pitfalls of her academic success.

Assembly George Square

17:40 – 19:10

6

2.

Mephisto Waltz (*****)

As best as I can guess, in
this long dance, Mephisto is repeatedly reborn,
controlled for a short time by four monks, and then breaks his bonds to revel
in nature.The power of his
performance is just amazing.Whether
writhing in slop, recoiling from steel drums, or crushing his ice heart,
there are images here that I will never forget.

Assembly Roxy

20:00 – 21:20

25

3.

Othello - The Remix (*****)

Four male rapper/dancers and
a DJ are surprisingly faithful to Shakespeare's plot when they update it to a
famous rapper and his crew.The show
had clever lyrics, diverse dance routines, and music that kept my foot
tapping.Desdemona's recorded ethereal
singing lent a sense of purity to the invisible wife.

Pleasance Courtyard

13:55 – 15:10

27

4.

The Sewing Machine (*****)

In post-apartheid South
Africa, a retired woman tells of her life growing on a ranch, and dealing
with a stubborn, conservative husband.Each anecdote is bittersweet, and touch upon
everything from an adopted baby baboon to a ostracized son suffering from
AIDs.This quiet performance had both
of my companions in tears as we heard of the love between her and her
favorite son, and the intransigence of her husband.

Assembly George Square

14:40 – 15:40

26

5.

Hand Over Fist (*****)

A woman repeatedly
remembers the first time she met a man with the scene morphing into other
memories each time.This has a series of
clever, powerful perversions of memories that are disjoint yet related.As we return to the opening scene it
becomes it now is layered with heartbreaking
poignancy.

Pleasance Courtyard

13:55 – 14:50

21

6.

Casablanca:The Gin Joint Cut (*****)

This is third time I saw
this homage that is a remarkable mix of reverent recital and
play-within-a-play antics.I’ve seen Casablanca countless times, and I was amazed how
the cast of three would play every touching scene straight, but then add
every sort of high jinx to the other scenes.I should warn the uninitiated that many of their funny touches, such
as air freshener sprayed all over the set to simulate fog in the airport
scene, will make little sense to you.

Gilded Balloon Teviot

17:15 – 18:15

26

7.

And No More Shall We Part
(*****)

A husband begrudgingly
agrees to help his ailing wife commit suicide.As the play progresses through her final
day, we see flashbacks of their arguments about her decision, with his heartfelt
disagreement often bringing tears to my eyes.I will never forget the simple scene of him lying exiled outside her
bedroom door as she lays poisoned inside with his hand raised in toward that
door in obedient agony.

Traverse

10:00 – 11:20

14

8.

Mies Julie (*****)

Set in post-apartheid South Africa, this adaptation of
Strindberg's play has Julie the daughter of the master of the ranch, and her
lover a Black farm laborer with whom she has grown up.Race, physical power, economics, love, social
status, and lust combine in a volatile mix that still cannot escape their
plight.While he is frustrated but
realistic, she suffers more because all of her dreams are
dashed in one night.

Assembly Hall

14:00 – 15:30

24

9.

Wojtek the Bear (*****)

Based on the true story of
a bear cub that was adopted by a Polish regiment in World
War II and later exhibited in Edinburgh Zoo, this two-man show focuses on the
bond between the bear and the corporal who becomes his adopted mother.While often using the mannerisms of a bear,
the actor has no bear costume or make-up, and speaks of love and loyalty with
the purity of nature.A violinist
provides the perfect soundtrack for the joys of their playing, the privations
of war, and the sorrow of their parting.

Hill Street Theater

16:30 – 17:45

17

10.

Thin Ice (*****)

On an expedition to
Greenland in 1939, a geographer attempts to disprove global warming, while
his anthropologist assistant researches the natives.Beside the two research topics, the play
has a love triangle, a mysterious death, and World War II intelligence
gathering integrated into a richly textured whole.The revelations at the end addressed the
mysteries and secret motivations in a most satisfying way.

Pleasance Courtyard

11:45 – 13:15

11

11.

A Soldier’s Song (*****)

Ken Lukowiak
tells of his experiences as a soldier during the Falklands war with the full
range of emotionally charged events that such a war can engender.Ken seemingly hides nothing as he speaks of
his fears, dismay, stupidity, longings, admiration, and countless other
complex feelings.Among the many
memorable events is that of him dragging an
annoyingly noisy injured Argentine soldier from a still mortared battlefield,
and then kicking him to show his buddies that he was not going soft.

Assembly Roxy

17:05 – 18:10

7

12.

Love Letters to the Public
Transport System by Molly Taylor (*****)

Molly weaves three tales of
how events on trains and buses change three people's lives.This is an assured performance, with every
nuance and word perfect.

The Assembly Rooms

18:15 – 19:15

24

13.

Statements After an Arrest
Under the Immorality Act by Athol Fugard (*****)

During apartheid, a single
White librarian has an illegal affair with a married Black school
principal.Though the racial
implications are raison d'être for this play, the social complications of the
affair really drive the story.Because
the two lovers are nude from the beginning of the play, their cultural roles are obscured, and I was drawn to think of them as simply
man and woman.

Assembly Hall

12:15 – 13:30

27

14.

Camille O’Sullivan:
Changeling (*****)

The Irish singer again provided
me a wonderful night of entertainment.Her formula of consistent crescendos and “let’s have a good time”
feeling always rouses my spirits.Like
Edith Piaf, she seems to be always singing from her soul.When I met her afterwards, she left little doubt that she does.I am sorry for those who missed it, but the show ended the 7th.

The Assembly Rooms

22:25 – 23:55

7

15.

"Letter ofLast Resort" and "Good with
People" (*****)

In "Letter ...", on
her first night in office the Prime Minister must determine what a submarine
with nuclear missiles must do if the government of Britain has been
eliminated in a surprise nuclear attack.As a bureaucrat made cogent arguments for each position, and she tried
to put herself in the position of the sub captain, I was
more intellectually engaged than for any other play at the
Fringe."Good ..." has the
mother dealing with the return of a now nice fellow, who once unmercifully
bullied her dead son.Their circumscribed
verbal dance caught my ear, and the simple dropping of props behind their
raised platform set contributed to the emotional pointedness of the
situation.

Traverse Theatre

19:30 – 20:50

23

16.

The Idiot at the Wall
(*****)

In 1919, while a London
researcher and his brother’s girlfriend visit the woman’s remote Hebridean island home , he
becomes enamored with its people, particularly her sister.Like the folklorist
I admired the clarity of the locals, and his own pure spirit warmed my
heart.Combine these with Gaelic
songs, fine acting, and a love story, and you have a most satisfying play.

Bedlam Theatre

15:25 – 16:35

8

17.

Sex Ed: The Musical (*****)

Five girls and a guy cover all of the topics of a Sex Ed class in a bawdy,
but surprisingly informative way.During the show, each of the four female teachers has her own sexual
life evolve, interspersed with lecture/songs and excerpts from the courtship
and sexual adventures of a pair of teens.I admire the non-judgmental thoroughness of the
show, and how nicely it addressed the issue of lovers with different sexual
desires.

theSpace@Surgeons Hall

18:30 – 19:45

18

18.

Bad Musical (*****)

This play is ostensibly about
a man who leaves a small town and somehow soon becomes the prime minister who
then gives everybody everything they want until the country crashes to the
ground.Of course, that horrible plot
is just a flimsy excuse for a well-conceived display of incompetence in all
spheres of stagecraft.Though the show
is riddled with a lack of synchronicity, technical snafus,
and missed lines, when the play has a strong song the cast and crew
demonstrate their true excellence.

Gilded Balloon Teviot

17:00 – 18:00

18

19.

A Clockwork Orange (*****)

Based on Burgess' novel, in
a dystopic future, a young man, Alex, treats his
own violence and rape as performance art, but a series of betrayals leads him
to accept an experimental treatment that will make him physically ill when he
thinks violent thoughts.Though the
show is populated with many characters from the
movie, it is the great performance of the ripped and charismatic Alex that
strengthens the story from grizzly beginning to sly end.I was pleasantly surprised how well they
used dance to convey the gore of the movie.

Pleasance Courtyard

15:40 – 17:00

23

20.

An Evening with Dementia
(*****)

An old man who sits in a convalescent
chair knows he has dementia, and talks to the audience about his techniques
for dealing with his visitors and the staff.The actor had all the proper mannerisms, and the script has a
perfectly plausible blend of rational thought interspersed with lapses of
memory.A good example is his
conscious choice to use “Hello mate” when greeting any man, even when he
thinks he knows their name, so he can avoid using the wrong name.

theSpace on the Mile

16:05 – 16:55

22

21.

Dugout Theater’s Inheritance
Blues (*****)

As a blues trio plays in
the background of a bar after the wake of their father, three disparate
brothers recall their father’s life differently.As the evening progresses, the band members
join the brothers, and the dreams of all become entwined.The initial blues song starts the show off
right, and the sure performances keep things moving along at a cool pace.

Bedlam Theatre

22:30 – 23:30

8

22.

Molly Wobbly’s Tit Factory
(*****)

The lives three couples in
the boring, moribund town of Little Happening, USA, suddenly change when a
stranger buys the long vacant church.The show combines potions of desire, an arch green-haired makeover
specialist, and a batch of fun songs that I could actually understand to
create an only slightly rude good old time.They pulled off a nice plot trick to address the problem of a gay man
married to a pining woman.

The Assembly Rooms

16:45 – 18:15

13

23.

The Lonely One (*****)

In a small southern American
town in the 1920’s, two women venture to the movies while the strangler of
two women is still on the loose.Whether it be a simple soda shop visit,
watching a Charlie Chaplin film, or a supposedly reassuring encounter with a
policeman the atmosphere of suspense is always building in some way.The initial use of four small Edwardian
houses that opened to reveal shadow puppets playing baseball and sitting on
their porches worked beautifully to establish the feel of the rural town.

Underbelly Cowgate

18:50 – 19:50

13

24.

The Trench (*****)

In World War I, after a
cave-in a miner digging a tunnel toward German trenches must perform three
tasks to escape to satisfy a monster.This play makes great use of recorded shadow puppetry showing the
tunneling by both sides as well as large stick puppet monsters, with the
muffled song lyrics being its only drawback.Though this has a fantastical element that is a touchstone of Les EnfantsTerribles, unlike their
previous macabre music hall productions, this has a more realistic hero for
whom I really cared.

Pleasance Courtyard

13:10 – 14:10

19

25.

Leather (*****)

The girlfriend of a small-time crook is upset with him because he and his
brazen partner’s recent heist of a truckload of leather sofas did not net any
cash for her cocaine habit, while at the same time the crime boss who owned
the sofas is having his right-hand man tracking the pair down.Whether it is the board game between the
dysfunctional lovers, or the soliloquy on people’s needs by the crime boss,
every aspect of this violent tale has depth and is well
acted.Nuances, such as the
boss reluctantly surrendering his wallet to his tracker/aide, add a wonderful
complexity to the story.

C Nova

22:25 – 23:20

9

26.

The Fantasist (*****)

In her room in a mental
care facility, an artist spends most of her time contending with her bipolar
hallucinations that foster her creativity and self-doubt.Mania is beautifully
portrayed as she succumbs to the huge stick puppet of her evil
creative mentor/lover dressed in a grey coat from her closet, and, though
shorter in duration, her depression finds it source in a stick puppet crone
that warns her of manic side but debases her.A lively foot tall homunculus she had created serves the play well for
lighter, comedic interlude.Only the
very last 30 seconds of the play detracts from the authenticity of the show.

Underbelly Bristo Square

12:25 – 13:25

10

27.

Out of the Blue (*****)

The large Oxford men’s a cappella group is back again with their great
arrangements and fun choreography.This show seemed to have better choreography and fewer new tunes than
last year’s show.As with last year, I
think that this venue is a little too large for their volume, with the weaker
solos becoming inaudible even with the addition of central microphone.(Aug 23)

Assembly George Square

14:00 – 14:50

20

28.

Adam Hills: Mess Around
(*****)

The Australian comedian
again uses interviews with the audience as his source for his show.I continue to be amazed at how he can find
humor without embarrassing or belittling the people.For this show, he discovered a man from a
previous year that looked like a retired James Bond, but then later found a
young man in a flashy vest that he thought suited the title, had him pose
with a mother and daughter, and later read tweets for a proposed movie title
of the picture.

Assembly Hall

19:40 – 20:40

15

29.

As of 1:52pm GMT on Friday,
April 27, 2012, This Show Has No Title (*****)

Daniel Kitson
presents a play about writing this play with an American woman.While Kitson
acknowledges that the task is egotistical and fraught with narcissist
pitfalls, his interactions with his collaborator seem to keep him (and the
play) in line.As a lecturer who
teaches computer programming recursion (a subroutine that calls itself), I
loved the recursive cleverness of this script such as the self-aware comment
about having a running gag to please the simpler people in the audience and
then continuing to have a running gag of saying “I’ve had a fall.”

Traverse Theater

15:00 – 16:20

12

30.

The Rape of Lucrece (*****)

Accompanied by her pianist Feargal Murray, Camille O'Sullivan adapted Shakespeare's
poem to a combination of spoken word and song.His subtle playing provided a perfect
soundtrack for the spoken sections, and complemented both her soulful
ballads, and her emphatic musical interpretations of Tarquinius'
lust and violent act.As with her musical concerts, Camille was a consummate
entertainer, and seemed to give every emotional ounce to her performance, and
the audience responded by giving her an extended standing ovation.

Royal Lyceum Theatre

21:00 – 22:20

26

31.

Peter Straker’sBrel (*****)

With a few short videos of
the Jacque Brel as intermissions, Straker presents a wide variety of songs from the Belgian
singer/songwriter.The show has the
style of a classy entertainer with a fine trio behind him and the shedding of
his three piece suit as the songs warrant.He clearly loves the songs, and uses his
experience to craft each to best present its
feelings.

Assembly Hall

18:00 – 19:00

15

32.

Proof (****)

After her famous, but long
demented mathematician father dies a 25-year old woman must contend with a
visit from her overbearing sister, and mathematics graduate student
interested in her father’s papers.As
a lecturer in Computer Science, the occasional arguments over proofs and
numbers play certainly resonated with me, but it was the
flashbacks to her conversations with her father that touched me deeply.Her complex interactions with her peer also
worked well, with only the one-dimensional sister preventing this from being
a top notch play.

Pleasance Courtyard

14:00 – 15:20

10

33.

The Two Worlds of Charlie F
(****)

Led by a soldier with an
amputated lower leg, more than a dozen disabled veterans injured in
Afghanistan describe their experiences in the battlefield, during
rehabilitating, and returning to their families.The musical numbers went surprisingly well,
and whether in a wheelchair or wearing a prosthesis
the leader was a charming guide.

Pleasance Courtyard

13:45 – 15:15

11

34.

It’s Not Easy Being Yellow
(****)

RiaLina sings ditties and
uses stand-up comedy that focuses on the effects of having a German father
and a Filipino mother that make her look Asian but sound American.Whether talking about the problem of being seen as a kidnapper of her own blue-eyed blond
daughter, or singing about recessive genes, all of her work is clever.Her voice is so good that I wish she would
do a show where she sings the blues.

The Voodoo Rooms

19:00 – 20:00

21

35.

Richard Herring: Talking
Cock – The Second Coming (****)

Relying heavily on his own
website survey of 8500 people, Herring answers most of the questions people
have about men and women’s experience with penises.Besides statistics on everything from
women’s opinion on the importance of length to the number of sexual partners
each respondent had, Herring mixes in anecdotes, survey open
ended answers, and his own open, loving opinions.As with previous shows, Herring has worked
hard so that even though you are laughing much of the time, you come away
knowing quite a bit more about a subject.

Underbelly Bristo Square

20:15 – 21:15

13

36.

The Two Most Perfect Things
(****)

A pair of
couples and a pianist tell of
the lives of Noel Coward and IvarNovello, the stylish playwrights and entertainers of the
‘20s and ‘30s, through song and dance.While I knew Coward well, I had not heard of the more accomplished Novello.The show
provided a great contrast between the two men as Coward’s songs reflect both
his wit and his bitterness while the much loved Novello’s
were also witty but had a tenderness and sincerity usually missing from
Coward’s.

Assembly Roxy

11:10 – 12:20

7

37.

Hal Cruttenden:
Tough Luvvie (****)

Hal is a happily married,
campy comedian who mixed insightful observations about current affairs with
amusing self-deprecating tales from his own life.Whether he is suggesting that each country reveres
its time as an underdog, or recounting his false bravado dealing with a road rager the atmosphere was always warm and friendly.I was particularly impressed with how well
he handled being upstaged by a witty comment from
the audience—he noted that it earned a huge laugh, took a sip of water, and
then continued.

Pleasance Courtyard

21:45 – 22:45

5

38.

Maurice's Jubilee (****)

Maurice is dying, but he is
obsessing about lasting until the Queen visits him on his 90th birthday, the
day before her 60th jubilee.Though
there are a few too many clever lines by Maurice, his wife, and the hospice
nurse, to secure the drama of the piece, the underlying sense of inevitable
death remained.I did feel sorry for
the second fiddle wife, and thought the "Queen's" remarks were
particularly incisive.

Pleasance Courtyard

16:25 – 17:55

27

39.

Mark
Thomas:Bravo Figaro! (****)

The comedian relates
anecdotes about growing up with a hard driving contractor father who learned to
love opera in spite of his working class roots.This was an unusual show for the Traverse
because it' format was so similar to story shows presented by other comedians
at the Fringe.Nonetheless, it is well designed with literally an operatic climax at the
home of his father who suffered from Alzheimer's.

Traverse Theatre

10:00 – 11:00

23

40.

Pappy’s:
Last Show Ever!(****)

Three fellows present well constructed sketches with clever running gags.Though their show is ostensibly about how the
three came to the point of splitting up, that is just a handy framework for
zany antics.My favorite sketch starts
by dividing firemen into two categories, those who put out fires, and those
who save cats from trees, and then applies this same absurd analysis tocats and trees.

Pleasance Dome

20:20 – 21:20

5

41.

A Guide to Second Date
Sex(****)

A young fellow invites a
woman over to his flat with his flatmates gone with
no real plan on what they are going to do.The charm of this play is how each person responds to the situation as
it evolves from an unexpected stay in a bedroom to watch a movie to the
discovery that they have very different views on a
common friend.I must admit that I do
like voiceovers, and here they are perfect for revealing the perplexed
thoughts of the potential lovers.

Underbelly Cowgate

22:45 – 23:45

6

42.

Peep - "Meat"
(****)

A wife discovers that her
husband has being visiting porn sites.I liked the honesty of their discussion as they admit that the videos
do not always engender fantasies with their spouses.The wife's experiences have a wonderfully
revealing aspect that raises the story to another level.

Pleasance Courtyard

18:00 – 18:20

25

43.

Blink
(****)

A naïve,
socially stunted young man finds contentment observing a woman who society
rarely noticed.The play moves
smoothly as the dysfunctional grow to fill each other’s needs, first by a
premeditated act, and later by an accident.The re-use of a baby/father monitor was inspired.

Traverse

10:30 – 11:40

17

44.

The Beast (****)

Stuart Bowden tells the
tale of an inoffensive monster who is curious about
the lives of the people in small town near his cave.This is just a charming whimsical tale that
he interlaces with looped falsetto songs accompanied by his ukulele.A gentleness
pervades the experience that makes his final bicycle ride most touching.

Underbelly Cowgate

20:10 – 21:00

16

45.

The Boat Factory (****)

This two-man tribute to the
Belfast shipyard that built more than one thousand ships, including the
Titanic, has a retired worker telling of his five-year apprenticeship as he
learned of the workings and people of the gigantic facility.This is a wonderful mix of unique
characters, lists of tools, construction lore, stories of accidents,
expansive views from gantries, and very personal life events.As a handyman/general contractor, I suppose
the building side may resonate with me more than for other audience members.

Hill Street Theater

18:30 – 19:50

17

46.

Miss Havisham’s
Expectations (****)

Linda Marlowe portrays the
betrayed spinster from Dickens’ “Great Expectations”
as Havisham provides her on view of the events of
the novel as well as their relationship to the author’s life.Marlowe achieves this mix of fiction and
biography without ever leaving character.With Havisham as the focus, I gained a
better understanding of her transformation from bitter trainer of Estella to
a repenter for the pain she has caused Pip.

Gilded Balloon Teviot

15:00 – 1600

13

47.

Hangman (****)

Five Russian physical
theater artists present wildly different scenes of murders, efforts to avoid publicity
of the crimes, and their inevitable punishment.From musical chairs while hangman is played
in the background, to contortions at a table as a low chandelier swings
narrowly above, to the final toast as sand ours on their bowlers the play is
full of intriguing images.The
spaghetti Western music that often accompanies the action contributes both
catchy rhythms for the movements, and a sense of rough justice.

Assembly Roxy

16:00 – 17:00

7

48.

The Blues Brothers – Live
(****)

Jake and Elwood are here to
provide ‘50s and ‘60s blues, with a horn section and back-up singers to
provide a nice big sound.The players
had a good time, and so did the audience.My only problem with the show is that the venue does not allow room
for dancing by the audience that was one of wonderful parts of the experience
in all of the venues in years past.

C eca

21:45 – 23:00

10

49.

One Hour Only (****)

For her first prostitution trick,
a forensic biology student has a hard working engineering student using a
gift from his friends for his 21st birthday.This well crafted
play makes good use of its opportunities to explore both of their fields of
interest, job interviews, and, of course, prostitution.I appreciated the nuanced approach to
prostitution, with a highlight being her attempt at a Polish accent because
she had been told that customer preferred foreign
girls.

Underbelly Cowgate

17:20 – 18:20

16

50.

The Table (****)

Three men manipulate a
meter tall stick puppet with an enormous cardboard head as he talks about his
own world, and then attempts to present a story about the death of Moses
while contending with the vagaries of a live show.His patter about the table,
and how the three create the illusion of life had all of the audience
constantly laughing.When I later
learned that they had planned the accidents, I was all the
more impressed with their crafty “improvised” performance, complete
with the puppeteers acting like they are breaking up with their own laughter.

Pleasance Courtyard

22:30 – 23:30

11

51.

The Death of Chatterton
(****)

A charming American PhD
student pesters a British expert as he investigates the poisoning of the 18th
century poet.The play has a “Da Vinci
Code” feel as well as clever parallels between the student’s charm and that
of Chatterton.This is quite a big
production for the Fringe, with lavish costumes and a huge cast.

Pleasance Courtyard

12:25 – 13:35

25

52.

Modern Town (****)

The main storekeeper in a moribund town agrees to take a
loan that leads to dramatic changes in the community.The show does a fine job of demonstrating how
the incremental changes dictated by economic necessity can break down the
social ties that bind a community together.It did leave me with mixed feelings because the damaging changes could
only be justified if the town was on the verge of dying

Pleasance Courtyard

16:00 - 17:10

25

53.

Female Gothic (****)

On a darkly lit stage,
dressed in a black Victorian dress, Rebecca Vaughn simply tells three Gothic
horror tales set in the 19th century.The last was best as we hear of shadow in a house that seeps out of
sight when the protagonist tries to look directly at it.The only problems are that with only one
voice, and a dark stage I did have a little battle with sleep.

Assembly George Square

11:45 – 13:00

26

54.

Tam O’Shanter
(****)

A large cast presents the
traditional Robert Burn’s tale of the wastrel with many songs and other poems
mixed in.Whether it be his many
visits to a pub, or his scary journey home on his mare the production was top
notch throughout.I only gave it four
stars because I often could not understand the Scottish accents.

Assembly Hall

12:00 -13:30

12

55.

The Girl with No Heart
(****)

Written as an allegory for
the children of Hiroshima, this fairy tale uses full size puppets to tell the
story of a young girl from a hand where all wishes come true who takes a one
way trip to a wasteland where children live in their own paper city trying to
protect themselves the adult war.The
slow, quiet tale, with is paper brick city and children rescued with origami
crane airplanes has a purity that brought tears to my eyes.On particularly touching idea was that the
children of the wasteland protected their hearts by hiding them in their
sleeves, and would only hand them to their closest friends.

Bedlam Theatre

17:00 – 17:55

8

56.

Montmorency (****)

In 1875, while recovering
in prison from an operation by a famous surgeon, a badly injured thief
discusses a plan to use the newly constructed London sewers to burgle houses with
his crippled mentor.The large cast
and huge set succeed at recreating the feel of the sewers, prisons, gentlemen’s clubs, and tenements of 19th
century London.Though Montmorency is
the protagonist, I was drawn to Freakshow,
the cripple, as he deals with the possibility of leaving his secure prison
environment for the vagaries and insults of city.

C Venue

19:25 – 20:30

9

57.

Time for Fun (****)

Dressed in black, a large
troupe of young performers uses only their exposed arms and hands to create
words, images, and animations.The
opening sequence is a tour de force with them spelling out a welcome message,
creating such things as cars, and kaleidoscope effects.While the later sections are still fun to
watch, they rarely use any techniques that had not been
used in the first act, with the addition of sticks particularly
highlighting their creative exhaustion.

Assembly Roxy

14:30 – 15:30

16

58.

Molly Naylor and the Middle
Ones: My Robot Heart (****)

With the two musicians
providing short interludes, Molly tells the tales of an emotional robot, an
11-year old boy having his loyalty tested, a bride having doubts, and the
bride’s father.Molly is a good
storyteller, but the low tech band was just a
distraction.She did a great job of painting
word pictures, and getting to the core lesson of each story.

Pleasance Courtyard

15:25 – 16:25

21

59.

Bullet Catch (****)

Rob Drummond, a
mentalist/magician, reads the minds of audience members by asking them simple
questions, and finishes by duplicating the trick that has killed many of
previously by catching a bullet in his teeth from a gun fired at his
face.Drummond’s mentalist patter is
the best I have ever heard.It was not
until he started doing standard magic like the
squashing bottle in bags and a floating table that I realized that this was
just a glorified magic show.

Traverse

10:30 – 11:45

15

60.

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast
Show - Menu 2 (****)

This menu has two new plays
and three plays from previous years.My favorite had a repressed couple at breakfast with the wife asking
the husband to undress her verbally, and then repeatedly critiquing
his valiant effort.As an annual
visitor, I'm disappointed with the number of old
works presented in this set.

Pleasance Dome

10:30 – 11:30

25

61.

The Big
Bite-Size Breakfast Show - Menu 3 (****)

This menu has
five new plays, and unlike the other two menus, this one has no plays from
the previous years.I had two
favorites:1) a cheery fellow and a
depressed man coincidentally meet on a rooftop with the intents of committing
suicide, and 2) after ten years without a Valentine's Day date, an unknown
admirer asks her out,and she is very suspicious.Though the other plays were a little weaker, I do prefer seeing new
plays to retreads.

Pleasance Dome

10:30 – 11:30

26

62.

Mr Braithwaite Has a New Boy (****)

Much to the consternation
of his friends and neighbors, a retired gay man asks a rough, young male prostitute
to move into his flat.Despite being filled with stereotypical caricatures, the play
manages to portray the relationship between the two men as real and
caring.The third actor provides most
of the comedy with his narcoleptic neighbor lady, and
grindr addicted friend.

C Aquila

18:25 – 19:30

27

63.

Dirty Barbie (****)

This autobiographical tale
makes use of many shirts and tons of dolls to re-enact the life of a North
Carolina girl with an alcoholic mother and supportive neighbors.There is nothing particularly unique in her
experiences, but her honesty and vitality proved winning.At one point, she reads a paean to her from
a classmate in her real eighth grade yearbook, but then goes on to describe
how she coaxed her pals to moon that same girl when the girl hesitated to
enter their playground.

Assembly Hall

13:30 – 14:30

6

64.

Confessions of a Grindr Addict (****)

A campy fellow prepares for
a date by drinking wine and talking about his encounters with men he met on the
gay dating iPhone app.While his
stories range from the pathetic to the tender to the comedic, all are amusing
and have the ring of truth.As the
show ended, I realized that such catty remarks would
never be accepted if they had been made about heterosexual encounters.

Assembly Hall

21:00 – 22:00

6

65.

The Half (****)

Guy Masterson portrays a
has-been alcoholic actor in his dressing room just before trying to resurrect
his career by playing all of the parts in Hamlet.As I expected, Masterson is superb as he
works through acting exercises, self
doubts, and rapid excerpts from Hamlet.Though his battle with alcohol allows
Masterson to demonstrate his acting range, there was too little back story for his character, and the whole play becomes
an acting demonstration rather than a story about a character for whom we
care.

Assembly George Square

14:00 – 15:10

15

66.

Company (****)

Despite seeing the
dysfunctional marriages of his friends, the popular bachelor Bobby still trys to find a mate among three
mismatched woman.Though the
large cast has strong voices and acting, they do not represent the diversity
of ages that Sondheim’s musical needs at times.In particular, the grand dame and the
“young” hippie girl appear to be about the same age.

C Venuen

16:20 – 18:50

14

67.

Call Me! (****)

This comedy has three women
friends repeatedly leave inappropriate voice mail messages for their love
interests, while slowly learning how to break their emotional bonds to the
men.Whether from drunken loneliness,
anger from being spurned, or desperate adoration,
each story had its comic touches and yet rang true.After leaving an initial message that that
had a too desperate tone, the series of follow-up “corrections” were great fun
as she could keep herself from making gaffes that revealed her consuming
interest.

Sweet

22:10 – 23:20

19

68.

Angels (****)

This one-man show has a
security guard is hauled into a filthy interrogation
room for the murder of a man that fell from a building.The writing is evocative to the point of
being poetry, and the acting is superb.The play is just too dense, and exhausted me as well as many other
audience members.

Traverse

10:30 – 11:30

19

69.

Mr. Carmen (****)

This mix of physical
theatre and art has two men in a silent competition to come up with different
ways to create their names, Jose and Carmen.Starting with a conveyor belt made of bits of string and wooden
pulleys, they use every manner of odd objects in their efforts.The show takes an odd turn as one artist
ferociously attacks a wooden heart with a knife until he has pierced it
repeatedly.

Assembly Roxy

18:00 – 19:00

11

70.

Dirty Paki Lingerie (***)

Azzah Fatima portrays six Pakistani females in the USA,
ranging from a 6-year old to two twentysomethings
to much older mothers.The diversity
of characters and nativity allow Fatima to contrast emigrant women’s roles
and views with those of the second generation.Though she tried to use the position of a
scarf to indicate which character was speaking, there seemed to be only three
positions so I often mistook a character until well into their monologue.

Assembly Hall

17:15 – 18:15

19

71.

Peep – Play 2 (***)

As an audience of 12 watch
from individual one-way mirrored cubicles, four actors in a four meter square
box perform mini-plays dealing with sex that each last between twenty seconds
and two minutes.I appreciated the
cleverness of our restricted physical view having an analogous restricted
temporal view.

Pleasance Courtyard

15:00 – 15:20

22

72.

The Oxford Imps (***)

Nine Oxford students used
audience suggestions as starting points for stories, songs, and puns.Though the Imps are usually the best
amateurs at the Fringe, it has been seven years since the group has had more
than two great improvisers at one time.I always feel sorry for the American students, because there is always
a competition that asks the group to use a specific British accent, and the
Americans never have an ear for the differences.

Gilded Balloon Teviot

15:15 – 16:15

19

73.

Alan Davies – Life is Pain
(***)

We did not know what to
expect from Davies since we know him from the “Jonathan Creek” -series in America, and the rest of the people in the queue know him
from the British TV show “QI”.I was
hoping to hear of anecdotes of an interesting life, and instead heard the
typical stand-up comedy of a man with a new baby..He made my disappointment worse when he
veered into mundane sexual comedy

EICC

19:40 – 20:40

14

74.

All That is Wrong (***)

An 18-year old uses the
entire floor as a chalkboard to write and connect innumerable words
describing her view of life.Like its two
predecessors, this “chaotic” creation, is actually a carefully rehearsed
performance piece that resulted from the collaboration of many teenagers in
Belgian company.A particularly wry
moment occurs when after listing multinational companies that she will
boycott she decides to only put a question mark next
to Apple.

Traverse Theatre

17:30 – 18:35

12

75.

Rubies in the Attic (***)

Four women tell of an event
in their grandparents’ lives, and sing a variety of songs with a blend reminiscent
of the Andrew Sisters of World War II (Boogie Woogie
Bugle Boy).Each woman tells her story
well as we hear of such disparate tales as that of Jewish immigration to
South Africa, and a woman with a penchant for bald men.It surprises me that only two days later I am left with a good feeling about the show, but few strong
memories from it other than I really enjoyed their singing.

Assembly Roxy

18:30 – 19:30

7

76.

Winston on the Run (***)

This covers Winston
Churchill's life from his failed effort to become a Conservative MP through
his escape from a POW camp during the Boer War.I found his consistent portrayal of
Churchill as an overly emphatic know-it-all too one-dimensional.There is also a very confusing scene that
inexplicably blends his capture with the signals for his rescue from a coal mine.

Pleasance Courtyard

14:45 – 15:45

25

77.

Educating Ronnie (***)

This autobiographical story
has an English college student providing financial support to a college student
in Uganda without being sure it is not a scam.As we see the actual text messages from the
Ugandan, the ambivalence of the Englishman drives the story.The contrast of their two lives is
instructive, but loses much of its power because we do not know if the
Ugandan is lying.

Assembly George Square

13:15 – 14:15

25

78.

The
Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean (***)

This
children’s play has a doctor of scrapology
patiently turning the pages of a scrapbook to uncover a Victorian life that
starts out mundane, and becomes fanatastical.Though the nod to scientific precision is
laudable, the slow pace tried my own patience.I did like how she used later entries to
solve mysteries earlier in the book.

Traverse & the Scottish
Book Trust

11:00 – 12:00

22

79.

Virginia
Ironside – Growing Old Disgracefully(***)

Virginia Ironside, an “Agony Auntie”, and makes wry observations
on her life now that she is 68.While
she did not ignore the drawbacks, she concentrated on the more subtle
advantages of being older like realizing that she feels safer because
hoodlums will now smile back at her.It did bother me that she was happy that sex and travel were behind
her.I lowered my rating of this show
because, despite a title change, this show contains almost the same material
as her 2009 show.

25

80.

Belt Up Theatre’s Outland
(***)

A dying Charles Dodgson
(Lewis Carroll) alternates between his real friends and a fantasy world full
of political intrigue called Outland.With its own wildly decorated room for a set, and lots of audience
participation the fantastical world is easily imagined,
but the real world suffers for it.I
was impressed that even though the Outland populated with histrionic
characters, Dodgson needed to make only subtle changes to function in either
world.

C Nova

21:05 – 22:20

17

81.

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast
Show (***)

This show has three
rotating sets of plays, with set all dealing with
World War II.The best play was a
reprise from last year that had a modern couple choosing to live their lives
exactly as if it October 30, 1942.The
other two plays were not as polished as one was a predictable seduction in an
air raid shelter, and the other had HedyLamarr providing a fragmented life story.

Pleasance Dome

10:30 – 11:30

20

82.

Anthony Rapp – Without You
(***)

A member of the original
cast of “Rent,” Rapp uses words and song to describe the creation of that
rock opera, and his extended efforts to support his dying mother.Rapp is certainly personable, and my
companions loved this show, but I found his voice wanting at times, the band
too loud, and the choice of high energy rock instead
of ballads as he deals with his mother was repeatedly jarring.His stories of loss are touching, and the
songs from Rent cannot help but lead to loud ovations, it
is the remaining songs that brought this down.

Underbelly Bristo Square

22:30 – 23:45

12

83.

The Day the Sky Turned
Black (***)

Ali Scott, a radio
journalist, recounts her own experience as well that of five survivors of the
Australian 2009 bushfires.Her
selection of people range from a six year old to a grandmother, and provide
multi-faceted glimpse into the events.In particular, her choice to focus on the six-years old conveys
boyhood adventure during his narrow escape, naïvete
when dealing with is best friend’s death, and recovery as he teaches a
youngster to ride a BMX bike like his friend.

Assembly Roxy

15:00 – 15:50

9

84.

Peep - "SexLife" (***)

To prove that their sex
life has not ended with the birth of their baby, a husband dresses in women's
lingerie, and then dances for his formerly sdvnterous
wife.This has a fresh take on a
common topic, and succeeds at both communicating his love as well as
rekindling their sex life in a peep show manner.Though she is a striking woman when she
completely disrobes, her lack of a mentioned post-pregnancy stomach roll belies
the play.

Pleasance Courtyard

13:00 – 13:20

26

85.

Bring the Happy (***)

Three young researchers and
a rock band present the results of asking more than 1000 for a description of
a happy event, including its location in Leeds.The company would read answers and/or sing
songs about categories based on the location or source of happiness.The grand finale party with the audience
waltzing was fun, but the sound was too loud to hear many of the answers.

Northern Stage at St.
Stephen’s

21:00 – 23:30

21

86.

Excess (***)

A gay man asks his bitter,
estranged sister to visit and then reveals that he is changing his sex to
her, and later his drag queen lover.The three characters offer stories on a wide range of topics ranging
from airport security to overcoming stage fright with bad jokes.I found the use of hand puppets for her
stories unnecessarily confusing.

C nova

17:25 – 18:30

10

87.

Juana in a Million (***)

Vicky Casas portrays Juana,
an undocumented Mexican immigrant to the UK who works hard at repetitive menial
jobs, but because of that status she has no legal
recourse when she is abused by her employers.Casas’ flair for dancing runs throughout the play as she relives her
well matched steps with her doomed Mexican lover, and she later transforms
each repetitive job into a stylized routine.Because her dancing is so good, it detracts from the intended
heartbreak we are suppose to feel for the plight of
such women.

Pleasance Dome

16:15 – 17:15

6

88.

The Boy with Tape on His
Face – More Tape (***)

A young man with tape over
his mouth gesticulates to guide selected audience members to do unusual
tasks.These party-game tasks are fun
to watch, but I found the sections where he worked alone to be unoriginal.I particularly liked the “gunfight” between
him and a fellow that used staple guns and as guns with each person awkwardly
holding three balloons as their bodies.

Pleasance Courtyard

21:40 – 22:40

13

89.

Looby Loo: No Strings Attached (***)

Fifty years after starring
in a children’s television show, the now stringless
puppets try to deal with being unwanted and out of place in the human world
by mounting a digital reprise of their show.The show they attempt to produce certainly harkens back to my 1950s
childhood experience, but the theme of a well meaning last hurrah did not grab me.I did like their realization of a stuffed
teddy bear unsuccessfully trying to dance with jointed puppets.

C Nova

21:05 – 22:05

90.

Boom Boom
Club (***)

The one consistent thread of
a cabaret is its compere while the quality of a given night depends on its
acts for that night.Dusty Limits, the
compere, is a charming, flamboyant gay fellow who used to add much to his
cabarets by singing, but now has reduced his active participation to sly
comments and introductions.The acts
that night were mediocre in the main with the Hitler singer Frank Sanazi the most revolting, a stripper wrapping herself in
cellophane (including across her mouth) the most disturbing, and none worth
seeing again.

Underbelly Cowgate

00:30 – 04:00

9

91.

Everything Else Happened
(***)

This piece has four diverse
monologues: a Jewish grandmother talking to her grandson, a man and his
recorded wife making disjoint observations about their marriage, an aged children’s
clown speaking of his work, and a lecturer describing a system of punctuation
used to symbolize the types of silences in his family.While all four were well
written and performed, the two high concept pieces did not grab me
like the two conventional slice of life pieces.The image that still stays with me is that
of the unemployed clown searching his many-pocketed coat only to find that
one “pocket” was only a rip caused by a mugger.

Assembly Roxy

13:00 – 14:00

7

92.

Grit (***)

Slides, rod puppetry,
cardboard cutouts, and actual Syrian children’s artwork address the impact of
war on children.Though each part is
well done, later parts become just repetitious media essays.The most powerful section was the only one
with extended verbal narrative, and described a former Khmer Rouge child
soldier who founded an orphanage and personally removed thousands of mines.

Bedlam Theatre

20:00 – 20:40

8

93.

Hell's Bells by Lynne Truss
(***)

The writer, lead actress, and a hat expert gather to do a DVD commentary
for a minor TV series from 20 years ago that is now in demand because one of
its minor actresses is now a star.This blend of catty remarks, fond
remembrances, and in depth discourses on hats unsuccessfully moves from a
light dramedy suited to the characters to a madcap
comedy exploiting each characters' weaknesses.I found the mutilation of the hats as
inappropriate as the millinery historian did.

Pleasance Courtyard

11:45 – 12:30

25

94.

Camille Claudel (***)

A young woman portrays the
sculptor who had a close relationship with August Rodin for fourteen years,
and was committed to an insane asylum by her family eight years later.The story of art and love is occasionally
beautiful, but her frequent dancing consistently detracts from the power of
the piece.There is one nice scene
where Rodin is touching her body that is a mix of a sculptor’s investigation
and perceived foreplay.

Pleasance Courtyard

13:30 – 14:30

22

95.

Uninvited (***)

A man of precision who
lives alone must deal with an obstinate intruder while three bulging house
beings also subtly disrupt up his world.Though in hindsight I think the story was well told,
my experiences just prior to the start of the play dominate my thoughts about
it.My play before this was “Picnic
Apocalyptic” with its grotesquely bulging costumed characters including lust
and gluttony, and just before “The Uninvited” began one house being with a
similarly bulging midsection very slowly approached me and asked me to fiddle
her.Since another house being had the
rotund look of gluttony, I vainly tried to interpret all three of them as the
man’s vices through much of the play instead of their intended house gremlins
roles.

Bedlam Theatre

14:00 – 15:00

8

96.

Born to Run (***)

A woman jogs on a treadmill
while explaining how she became a long distance runner as treatment for her
epilepsy.Though the idea is novel,
the play seems more expository than personal.I had read a magazine article about the woman upon which the character
is loosely based, and found the real story provided a deeper understanding of
epilepsy, running, and the woman’s personal life.

Traverse Theatre

10:00 – 10:45

21

97.

The Three Faces of Doctor Crippen (***)

Three actors play three
aspects of the real life Doctor Crippen, who
married a domineering unfaithful actress, and falls
in love with his assistant in the early 1900s.There is some fun seeing the tongue-tied
emotional side trying to woo the assistant, but it is too far a reach to make
a comedy about a murderer.The
portrayal of the wife as without any redeeming characteristics badly hurts
the believability of the story.

C Venue

21:45 – 22:50

22

98.

Sam Simmons – About the
Weather (***)

Though there is an ongoing
story of an encounter on a bus, this is more a scattershot of comic
ideas.This is not improvisation, but
rather well planned disjoint routines.I would have enjoyed this much more if he had not been yelling almost
unintelligibly much of the time.

Gilded Balloon Teviot

21:15 – 22:15

20

99.

A Strange Wild Song (***)

As his grandson tries to understand
the contents of excavated World War II still camera film, we see the
grandfather as a lost soldier in Normandy who comes upon a bombed out town
that is only inhabited by three young brothers playing war.The interactions between the brothers and
the soldier evolve nicely from tentative apprehension to a full
scale romp, and the anthropologists are a clever way to provide
context for the lost warrior.However,
after two plays focused on the horrific impact of war on children earlier in
the day, I could not join the audience in laughing at the brothers’ antics,
and left feeling that a big part of their reality was missing from the
play.

Bedlam Theatre

21:00 – 22:00

8

100.

Mother to Mother (***)

A South African mother tries
to communicate her sorrow as well as the circumstances that led to her son
killing the visiting daughter of an American woman.Though we see slides of her depressed
neighborhood, and hear of her sons troubles, this seems like a tragedy that
does not go anywhere.While it is clear that her sorrow for the daughter’s death is
real, there is also a subtle element of recrimination that the daughter
should not have known better than being in the ghetto in the first place.

Assembly George Square

16:00 – 17:00

20

101.

Jubilate! by Rosalind Adler
(***)

Despite mounting evidence
to the contrary, the haughty, overconfident wife of vicar continues to
provide misguided help to the women of her parish.This play cannot decide whether it will be a
black comedy or a drama.On the one
hand, her continued sense of superiority obscures any real caring and the
character becomes a caricature, but the dire consequences of her blunders are
rooted so deeply in reality they cannot be funny.

Pleasance Courtyard

12:40 – 13:40

18

102.

Six and a Tanner (***)

David Hayman plays a man
speaking to his father’s coffin about his ordeals at the hands of the abusive
man.As an American, I could
understand Hayman’s accent most of the time, but when he switched to his
father’s heavier brogue I was completely at a
loss.The few stories I could
understand were quite touching, and the rest of the audience loved the whole
show.

The Assembly Rooms

13:00 – 14:10

16

103.

Morning (***)

In just three days, a 19-year
old sociopath starts by stealing her brother’s iPod to give as a gift for her
“passive” sociopathic girlfriend, and then the pair get
their kicks in a much darker fashion.The play is very well done, but its focus on
uncaring characters was just too unpleasant for me after just seeing the
loving anguish of “And No More Shall We Part.”I loved the subtlety of the girlfriend
simply pocketing the iPod right after learning from the sociopath that her
brother would really miss it.

12:30 – 13:50

Traverse

14

104.

A Cry Too Far From Heaven
(***)

A modern executioner speaks
of his trade, and then a woman from 1895 and a World War I deserter describe
the events that led to their unjust execution.This is not a simple play about the injustice
of execution, but more an essay on execution as a fact of
life.While the two long
stories told by the condemned appropriately provide exculpatory evidence, the
executioner (or his surrogate) does an admirable job of appearing rigid and
yet providing cogent rebuttals that try to quickly deflate their defenses.

theSpace at Surgeons Hall

16:05 – 16:55

9

105.

Once in a House on Fire
(***)

Two daughters must deal
with their mother’s repeated choice of abusive husbands.It was heartbreaking to see the mother
repeatedly send her proud daughters to talk with her husband only to have
them return rejected.My language
skills again failed me as I could not understand
many of their lines.

Northern Stage at St.
Stephen’s

14:40 – 15:40

17

106.

Soldiers’ Wives (***)

Catherine Shipton rotates through portraying five army wives whose
husbands serve together in Afghanistan.The wives have diverse lives and husbands, but because Shipton makes only subtle changes when shifting among
them, it is difficult to know who is speaking.Only the major’s wife, with her rigid
bearing and clipped speech came alive as she tried to fulfill her assigned
role as morale manipulator.

Assembly Roxy

12:30 – 13:30

15

107.

The Silencer – David Calvitto (***)

A fifty-year old man tries
to recover from being jilted by the “one love of his life” by using other
women.. Though the fellow initially seems charming,
we soon find him to be a crass cad with virtually no redeeming qualities..Nonetheless the final scene of
violence seems completely out of character.

Pleasance Courtyard

12:40 – 13:40

23

108.

Mess (***)

Despite seeing
a therapist and the misguided efforts of her close friend, and anorexic
cannot overcome her illness.I had
thought the disorder was solely based on body image, but this play taught me
that it can arise from the need to control one’s
life.Despite having a better
understanding of the disease and her background, I found that I had little
patience for the rigid protagonist.

Traverse

10:30 – 11:40

18

109.

The Rat Pack – Live (***)

This show normally has
singers calling themselves Frank Sinatra, Dean
Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., but that night a fellow calling himself Peter Lawford took over for the Sammy Davis Jr. character.Unlike the Blues Brothers act of this
production company, this franchise has gone downhill over the past
years.Instead of a well crafted homage with an energetic band, we now have
singers that make only token efforts at emulating their namesakes (with a
Frank Sinatra who did not even know the names of the people in the Rat Pack,
let alone the famous phrasings of Old Blue Eyes), some of the songs unfamiliar
to the original singers, and a back row of the band that had replaced joy
with workmanlike scowls.

C eca

19:00 – 20:00

10

110.

Towards the Moon (***)

This musical has a recently
unemployed writer discover that his supportive girlfriend is having an affair
with his best friend, and then is convinced by an
angle to change his approach to life.Thought the singing was reasonable there was nothing here that really
grabbed me.The metaphorical
difference between a "path towards the moon" and a "path towards
the sun" was suppose to drive much of the
play, but had no clear meaning to me.

C Venue

12:00 – 13:00

24

111.

The Intervention (***)

The father, mother, friend,
lover, and an Alcoholics Anonymous counselor meet at drunken author's house to
try to get him to stop drinking.The
storyline is strong, but the comedic elements have no place here.In particular, the enabling friend
certainly had contributed to the alcoholism, but his constant buffoonery
eliminates the verisimilitude of the play.

Assembly Rooms

19:05 – 20:20

26

112.

Excuse Me, I’m Trying to
Please You (***)

With a keyboardist, Fiona
Paul provides stories and songs about people’s often
misguided efforts to please others.Despite her best efforts to make this an upbeat experience, I could
not help but feel the irony of a poorly attended show trying to please its
audience in misguided ways.For
example, rather than generate a festive atmosphere, having four tables of
people blow party horns reminds everyone of how small the group is.

Zoo Southside

15:20 – 16:15

18

113.

Captain Ferguson’s School
for Balloon Warfare (***)

Based on a true story from
World War I, an U.S. Army captain tells of his efforts to train and then deploy
more than 2000 men to move observation blimps along the front lines.The facts are interesting, but Ferguson’s
steadfast primness and stilted language make him a caricature.I am amazed that they lost only two
aeronauts despite the fact that a simple bullet could explode the
hydrogen-filled blimps.

Assembly Roxy

11:15 – 12:15

21

114.

Barely Legal: 18 Years of
South African Comedy (***)

Dave Levinsohn
and LoyisoGola
each provide a half hour of standup comedy.Despite the show’s title, Levinsohn rarely
ventured into topics unique to his country, but Gola
used many references including his imitation of Nelson Mandela throughout as
he contrasted his ghetto past with the rich first world.Gola’s routine
about the proper way to kill an individual instead of innocent bystanders was
chilling.

Assembly Roxy

21:10 – 22:10

18

115.

Love All (***)

The true story of a
ne’er-do-well Irish tennis star who marries a French
in 1891 whose efforts address their debts become more and more
desperate.Despite the depressing plot the story is presented in a whimsical, mugging
vaudevillian manner.This airy
approach obscures the possible emotional power of the events with a bunch of
fluff.

Assembly Roxy

14:20 – 15:25

7

116.

People Show 121: The Detective
Show (***)

Three likeable actors use
hats to differentiate a myriad of characters in an Agatha Christie type
murder mystery.In the Christie
fashion, the plot does twist as new evidence is revealed, but at some point it just becomes a send up of plot twists instead of
a satisfying mystery.The repeated
arguments about who should be allowed to stand on the narrator’s table
contribute nothing to the plot, nor the attempted comedy

Assembly George Square

19:30 – 20:30

7

117.

Bottleneck (***)

A fifteen
year oldLiverpudlian tells of dealing with
loyalty, a deserted father, action films, and his pursuit of a ticket to the
ill-fated Liverpool FC game in November 1989 in which fans crushed themselves
to death.Because the actor is unrelentingly
energetic and intense throughout the show, it wore me out, and numbed
me.I did like how he decided to stick
up for his unpopular friend despite the physical and social cost.

Pleasance Courtyard

14:00 – 15:00

23

118.

Dylan Thomas: Return Journey
– Bob Kingdom (***)

Since it was a returning
show, I was hopeful that my second show of the day with Bob Kingdom would be
better than his new show about the Duke of Windsor.Kingdom again portrayed a historic figure
recounting his life, but this time he could rely on the beautiful phrases of
the Welsh poets for much of the script.However, this show also lacked emotional vitality – here a man reads
his life instead of reliving it.

Assembly Hall

14:45 – 15:45

6

119.

An Audience with the Duke
of Windsor – Bob Kingdom (***)

Bob Kingdom portrays the
former King Edward VIII as he recounts his life after he abdicated the throne
to marry the American socialite, Wallis Simpson.Though we hear of his sadistic nanny and
his deep love for Simpson they have no life to
them.There is no vitality here, just
an old man trying to work hard to write his autobiography.

Assembly Hall

12:00 – 13:15

6

120.

The Imaginary Radio Programme: Drennon Davis (***)

Davis and a keyboardist/singer
scan through an imaginary radio and provide songs, ads, and patter from a
variety of radio program formats.While it is the music that differentiates most radio stations,
the most fun in this show is when we hear the announcers.Davis is a master of a looping machine, but
he tends to lay down the same percussive beats so the music does not vary as
much as it should.

Assembly Roxy

22:30 -

121.

Picnic Apocalyptic (**)

An apocalyptic cult
presents a play of ten “undermen” who have been
cast out of heaven telling the tale of the woman Belle’s
growing acknowledgement of faith and the Apocalypse.They had wonderfully grotesque costumes and
sang well, but I could not understand many of their misdirected lines.The supposed real play becomes fantasy as
characters start to jerk through words like a skipping record as the
playwright/scroll reader/leader tries to find the right word for them, but
the final plot twist belies this whole aura of magic and left me quite
dissatisfied.

Bedlam Theatre

12:30 – 13:30

8

122.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone (**)

While eating at a café, the
customer across from a woman dies, and she decides to answer his cell phone
and make the callers’ lives by lying to them.The beginning of the play works fairly well
as she tries to fake her knowledge of the dead man, and decipher the needs of
the callers.The balance of the show
with its topics of organ transplants, familial discord, and heavenly waiting
rooms consistently fails because of both poor acting, and an unrealistic
script.

C Venue

15:45 – 16:50

10

123.

Monkey Bars (**)

This is an experiment to
see if when adults say the previously recorded answers of children, the children’s answers would be taken more seriously by the audience.This seemed a re-hash of the old Art Linkletter TV show section “Children Say the Darndest Things.”Though sort of cute at times, there really
was much here.

Traverse

10:30 – 11:45

16

124.

The Election : A Silent
Comedy (**)

A politician and his two
aides prepare for an election results party.From Three Stooges fights to repeatedly exchanged possessions, the
silent trio work through most of the standard silent slapstick routines with
few innovations.I did like a scene of
repeated conflicting paths that evolved in to a pas de deux.

Bedlam Theatre

18:30 – 19:30

8

125.

In a Handbag, Darkly (**)

This farce an attempt to
extend the storyline of Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” by adding a
second brother found in a handbag in Victoria Station.The characters are here, but not the
wit.The presentation of the second
brother as a puppet in handbag who rules the servants of the world is bizarre,
and is completely out of place in a drawing room comedy.

theSpace on North Bridge

20:10 – 20:55

22

126.

The Ugly Sisters (**)

The two stepsisters of
Cinderella re-interpret the tale as one in which they are ugly and rejected
by their mother and s were society.The two sisters and the three-piece rock ban were certainly energetic
and loud, but that also meant that they were often unintelligible.Their yelling and brashness overshadow
their tender mutual love and charmingly inept efforts at winning the prince.

Northern Stage at St.
Stephen’s

22:00 – 23:00

16

127.

Fragment (**)

Five young dancers explore
social groupings.Though there were a
few interesting movements and combinations, I was left
with a sense of repetition and feeling of boredom.There was one good piece where an outsider
surreptitiously gathers pillows from the sleeping crowd.

Greenside

16:05 – 17:05

15

128.

Death Boogie (**)

Accompanied by a violin and
a double bass a hip-hop singer utilizes a loop machine to produce well-constructed
songs telling of a Caspar Milquetoast worker who dreams of being a
revolutionary.While I appreciated
their talent, these old ears often could not decipher his quick words, and so
much of the show was lost on me.Though often repetitive, the background video of political drawings
helps give a sense of urgency that any revolution must have.

Assembly Roxy

19:50 – 20:50

7

129.

This Way Up (**)

During her first year after
graduating with an Art degree, a young woman takes a job at a call center and
deals with a jobless flat mate.This
devised piece uses all sizes of corrugated boxes for all manner of props and
sets that reflect the ramshackle life of graduates unable to find work in
their chosen field.The problem with
the play is that it too feels like something that was constructed of many
disparate ideas that were thrown together with little forethought and depth.

C Venue

14:40 – 15:40

5

130.

Captain Ko
and the Planet of Rice (**)

This is composed of a three
short pieces: two astronauts in space suits spending a million years almost
silently looking for life on a planet, an Alzheimer woman miming to the sound
effects of preparing breakfast twice, and Russian cosmonaut floating in the
Soyuz space capsule while the Soviet Union disbands below him.While each play had something noticeably
excellent, such as the space suits or the video camera images actually
looking like he was in zero gravity, each was also deeply flawed.The search for life was tedious, the actress rarely matched her movements to the sound effects,
and the video camera was mis-aimed so that it
missed much of the action on the Soyuz.

Underbelly Cowgate

20:00 – 21:15

11

131.

The Company of Wolves (**)

Though the show starts with
the audience using children’s crafts to create cards of their deepest
desires, the Red Riding Hood story is fairly adult
with some sexual content.This slow
play has little to offer other than a feminist Red Riding Hood.The created cards are not utilized, the singer is weak, and most of the acting
seemingly for children, though the content is not.

C eca

20:35 – 21:25

10

132.

Quick! Save the Pizza! (**)

What is the world to do when
countries are disappearing because of the global economic crisis and their
cultural treasures and foods disappear with them.This satire mixes the current political
leaders of major countries with Indian superheroes to create a childish
mush.In particular, the ambivalent
role of China as rapacious buyer of the world, and then savior of the super
heroes made no sense.

theSpace at Surgeons Hall

18:25 – 19:05

9

133.

Vive la Cabaret (**)

This below average Fringe
cabaret had a compere who spoke in platitudes of praise about each of the
many uninspiring acts.Only RiaLina, a blues singer,
displayed enough talent to interest me in seeing her show.I am glad that other Fringe audiences will
not have to endure this disappointing show since it was only
scheduled for the first three days of the Fringe.

Pleasance Courtyard

22:45 – 0:00

5

134.

Perle (**)

After his familial loss a man retreats into silence and only interacts with
his TV.This glacial play starts with
us staring at simple geometric shapes on the TV, and then moves on to the
actor using his cartoon hands to make a sandwich on the screen.Even the audience participation is static
as they were asked to not move at all once he has
positioned them on stage.

Assembly Roxy

13:45 – 14:45

9

135.

Dad Doesn’t Dance (*)

After a successful career,
this senior dancer discovered that she had a different biological father, and
tries to seek him out.From her swooping
entrance from the back of the room, until her exit, she cannot keep herself
from gesticulating in the manner of her art.All of the potential power of the play is lost in her narcissistic
movements.

theSpace at Surgeons Hall

17:20 – 18:10

9

I am a 59-year
old Computer Science lecturer from the University of California in Davis who
thinks even a bad play is better than no play at
all.Besides teaching, I work as a house
painter / handyman to earn the extra money to pay for
my travels.I have been to the Fringe
eight times before.Nine years ago,
after two weeks touring France, my wife and I spent nine days of our honeymoon
at the Fringe.We shared 45 plays, and I
attended ten other events besides.In
2005, I fulfilled a dream of seeing an entire Fringe Festival.Since then, I have been here for the whole
Fringe every year except 2007.I have
learned to devote most days to only one venue to maximize the number of performances
I can see.I expect this year to be
similar to last—many performances, and many new friends.

After
attending more than 1000 performances, I have a much better idea of my biases
and prejudices in the role of a critic.To limit my analyzing shows during their performances as much as
possible, I have intentionally avoided any training in criticism and the
dramatic arts, both formal and informal.I find that I prefer fact to fiction, innovation to repetition,
coherence to creativity, the concrete to the symbolic, and cleverness to depth.I realize that many of these are antithetical
to the spirit of the Fringe, but I cannot deny my nature.In particular, I just do not like shows that
push the bounds of creativity beyond my ability to make sense of them.Because I choose to fill time slots with
whatever is available, I still expose myself to such shows, and do not
mind.However, I do feel a little guilty
giving a low rating to a show on which a company has worked so hard, and with
such commitment.Nevertheless, I
envision that that is my role—to accurately report my
enjoyment so that others may better use my ratings.In all but a very few cases, I admire the
effort of each company, and wish them well.